Our cruise was very enjoyable. It was second best to our Greek Islands cruise a couple years ago. The biggest difference was the lovely ports that we stopped at in the Greek Isles versus some of the horrid industrial ports that we docked at on this cruise. On two occasions we had to pay ($15 and $12) just to get the shuttle from the industrial port to the town. Celebrity explained that it was the port collecting the money and not the cruise line. I cannot image which cheapskate at Celebrity made that decision. Considering the cost of the cruise I would never expect my clients to pay these shuttle expenses. I like Celebrity very much. We've done three cruises with them over the past few years. It's a shame that they place such a high priority on getting every cent out of their clients that they possibly can. As a former executive of a Fortune 100 company, I can say that there is no way that I'd ever dump my clients at some horrid industrial port miles from the city and then expect them to pay for the shuttle to town. A shameful decision.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Quick and easy.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Dinner at Blue was very good. The service there was terrific. Glad we went Aqua Class. Went to Qsine one night and it was off-the-charts excellent. Ate in the Oceanside Cafe for breakfast and a couple lunches, and was greatly impressed by the variety of options.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Fun poolside activities. Alejandro was great.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The best I've experienced on any cruise. Excellent talent. Almost every show was four stars. Anna & Vlad, the violinist, and the piano act were my personal favorites. Motown revue was very good. Alejandro was a fantastic cruise director.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our stewart, Ambrose, was wonderful. Took care of all our needs/requests without ever being a disturbance. D'Laurence, Nural and Fredrick, in Blue, were absolutely delightful. Santri, the greeter at the Oceanside Cafe was so wonderfully cheery every morning! Great way to start any day. Good service at every bar. A very good staff on the entire ship. No complaints from us, ever.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Layout was good but the ship is probably due for an updating. Carpeting on the stairs is worn. Rust around our shower door. Tarnished sink. The Constellation is not nearly as nice as the Equinox.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The layout was fine. Location was good (one flight and only a few steps to the pool and the Oceanside cafe). Ambrose kept everything neat and clean.
Ship tip
Try out Qsine restaurant. We were very impressed. If you're in Aqua Class, go early to dinner; there is always a wait after 7:45 pm.
Another very industrial port. An excursion is a must. We enjoyed Pisa and Florence. The only complaint is that we were dumped at a Gold shop for over an hour at the end with high pressure sales people, a good half mile from the bus back. It would have been far nicer for the guide to have taken us back to the museum so we could have seen some of the works of art instead of just being took that there is great stuff in there, now go shopping at the Gold store so that Celebrity gets a kickback on everything you buy. Very tacky ending to the excursion.
Our excursion to Cinque Terre (with Marta) was the best! A must for every traveler! A beautiful and totally unique experience. I'd do it again every time. Wonderful.
Lovely port. We jumped onto the train to visit Monaco on our own. There was a great Hop-on Hop-off bus in Monte Carlo that covered everything we wanted to see. Lots of fun.
Toured the city on our own. Absolutely delightful. A beautiful city, enjoyed Veil park. The Sunday's boat jousting tournament on the canal was unbelievably cool, preceded by parades throughout the town. Couldn't go the canal tour because of the jousting tournaments, but that's ok. If you're there on a Sunday skip the excursions and just go to Sete for the boat jousting. One of our favorite days. Not sure about other days of the week, but Sunday in Sete will always be a great memory!
A very, very industrial port. The view from our balcony was of a couple dozen burned-up vehicles sitting alongside the ship awaiting their crushing demise. A total dump of a port, but the city (far away) was nice. None of the excursions were appealing so we paid the $15 to get a shuttle to town, visited a a lovely church, climbed the tower, and bought some souvenirs. Pretty city, far from the horrible port.
Wanted to sign up for the city tour but it was sold out. We took a very nice, and thorough, Hop-on Hop-off tour of the city and the castle. Many of the Celebrity excursions were considerably more expensive than the comparable Hop-on Hop-off busses. I'm glad we researched them before we boarded the ship.
Disembarked early. We took a cab to a hotel on Passeig de Gracia, a beautiful area. We dropped off our luggage and boarded the very reasonably-priced Barcelona Tours hop-on hop-off Blue line bus, which highlights the Gaudi buildings. Wow! saw them all. That afternoon we boarded the Red Line tour, which was equally beautiful. We were informed that those two lines are far better than the Orange and Green lines. I can see why; both were magnificent. That evening we did the La Rambla stroll from the fountains to the waterfront. We walked back and had a lovely dinner in the beautiful Placa Reail/ Placa Garibaldi. Took a taxi to the airport the following morning. Barcelona is fabulous!
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